First, the inspiration. On June 8th, I– along with my little sister and two friends (one from Oz and the other from around the corner) drove nearly five hours to Medina, Ohio. Aside from getting stopped at the boarder for nearly an hour so my Australian friend could get her passport checked and processed through immigration, the drive down was uneventful. Fun, but leisurely and quite uneventful. The reason for the trip was a whole other matter. For years I have followed an author– by my reckoning I first found her story in 2003 and she is now published.
I’m of course talking about Sarah J. Maas who is the author of the Throne of Glass series and the inspiration behind me starting my very own writing blog. Well, she and her other author friends (Susan Dennard, Kat Zhang and Erin Bowman) decided to go on a Authors Give Back Tour of the eastern USA and I just knew that I had to meet her (and the other’s too because I have read their books and loved them all). The picture is the picture of the five of us together. They are such inspirations and I can only dream to have my books published as they have. It was so awesome to meet them and the comments that they wrote in my books were just heart-warming. I am totally in awe of all four of them and beyond thrilled that I got to meet them for they are where the inspiration comes in.
“SoulShip” is my science-fiction baby and while I got the finished copies (they are beautiful) I have come to the startling realization that my one book can actually be spread out over three. There is so much more story to tell and my beloved characters won’t leave me alone. New characters are popping up into my head all the time and the story keeps expanding. So I have decided that this summer’s project will be to write book one of the Mind Bender trilogy.
Book One, Ghost in the Machine will take roughly the first 10k of the original and then completely go off in a different direction. Book Two will be from the original 10k mark to either the 57k or 67k mark. I haven’t quite decided yet and it depends on how much extra room the new side mission takes up. Book Three with go from the 57 – 67k mark to the end. But it will be a lot more drawn out. I have a rather epic battle scene at the end and I need to show the Rebellion forming which is what book three is going to be all about.
My goal, as I have said is to have book one written by the end of summer and edited by the end of the year. I hope to be querying it off around Christmas and my fingers will be crossed for something good to happen. ^_^
The only other goal that I have set myself for this summer is to read all six “Anne” books by LM Montgomery. I read “Anne of Green Gables” as a child but never read the sequels. I am nearly 3/4 of the way through book one and loving it! I can’t wait to go onto book two. ^_^
So yes, those are my goals for the summer… I shall be crossing my fingers daily in the hopes of completing all of them. ^_^
The Writer's Journey 